The nocturnal phenomenon of milky seas, explained by science

Aug 31, 2021

pictured here is the ocean at night. Scientists have been exploring a rare phenomenon whereby the ocean turns a luminous colour, called milky seas

For centuries, a rare nocturnal phenomenon has occurred called 'milky seas'. Image: Unsplash/Lukas Robertson

Steven D. Miller

Professor of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Ocean is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Ocean

image-of-the-bioluminescence-in-milky-seas-which-is-caused-by-a-type-of-bacteria

The bioluminescence in milky seas is caused by a type of bacteria. Image: Steve. H. D. Haddock/MBARI, CC BY-ND

an image showing a milky sea event off the east coast of Somalia

Researchers found a milky sea event off the coast of Somalia, seen here as a pale swoosh in the top left image. The other panels show sea surface temperature, ocean currents and chlorophyll. Image: Steven D. Miller/NOAA

this image shows a milky sea off the coast of Java which was the of Kentucky and lasted for more than a month

This milky sea off the coast of Java was the size of Kentucky and lasted for more than a month. Image: Steven D. Miller/NOAA

these are satellite images showing milky seas

The two images of milky seas on the left were taken with older satellite technology while the images on the right show the high-definition imagery produced by the Day/Night Band sensor. Image: Steven D. Miller/NOAA

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.